Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-03-03
Observation-Disclosures.
A Custom Introduced Into California
Spanish Families From Mexico.

A Custom Introduced Into California by
Spanish Families From Mexico.
Those who are acquainted with the
customs of old Spanish towns in Cali
fornia know what cascarones are, and
are probably familiar with the ways of
using them and the additional enjoy
ment they lend to all dances where
they are used. To such of our readers
who are not we'll posted in the matter
we will attempt to give few words in
explanation.
The origin of the custom of casca-
rone-breaking is probably surrounded
with as impenetrable mystery as the
identity of the '.Man in the Iron
Mask" 1t was brought to California
by the early Spanish families from
Mexico. and up to within few years
past it was an attractive feature of
every dance given during a certain por-
ton of the year Cascarone season
begins. according to custom, at twelve
o clock. Christmas night. and lasts till
Ash Wednesday, and any one of our
old citizens can tell of the grand times
at cascarone balls in the 'flush days."
when Tile cuSUOI1 was ItS
height. Dances were of almost night
" occurrence then, and hundreds of
dozens of cascarones were broken i'll
an evening. and many q poor family
derived ha- dsome income from the
manufacture and sale of cascarOnes.
They sold at dollar Il dozen during
the early part of the evening. and in
the 'swe sma' hours" when the COM
modify became scarce, an ounce of
gold dust has been known to be given
for a single dozen.
Many interesting stories could be
told of the cascarone balls of the past,
but only one will be mentioned as an
instance of the popularity of this Pc
culiar feature of the balls. On one
occasion at a ball given at the resi-
dence of Don Jose Abrego, Pete Ser
rano. then muchacho, was on hand
selling cascarones. A gentleman ap-
preached and asked what he would
take for his cascarones. Zone dollar
a dozen," was the answer. Glow
many have you?" was the next in
quiry- Forty Dozen" ''All right.
I'll take them" Taking the basket he
started down the hall. but had
not taken dozen steps when
he was surrounded by num-
Der of young ladies. and in moment
all hands were diving into the basket,
coming out with double-hands full and
crushing them on his head. while he
manfhly strove to return a few of the
compliments he received. In five min
utes not one of the forty dozen cas-
carones remained whole. The modus
operandi of cascarone-making is very
simple, and about as follows: Into an
empty eggshell-whole. except for an
opening in one end just large enough
to remove the original contents-is
placed about teaspoonful of finely
chopped paper of various bright colors
and gold tinsel; then the opening is
neatly closed by FASTING a piece of col
ored paper over it, and then the cas-
carone is all ready for use. In Mexico.
in the good old times, cuamdo ha6ia
mucho ORC. gold dust mixed with dia-
mond dust. was often used to fill the
eggshells at the swell fandangoes given
by the old grandees. And it is done
occasionally nowadays by some of the
wealthy old dons who wish to do the
thing up in style. Another way of
filling the shells was to use finely per-
fumed powder. and sometimes rare
and costly perfumes were used. Very
often the shells were beautifully deco
rated, and sometimes hand-painted
In Monterey, before the decline of the